Gaming video content audiences exceed those of HBO and ESPN

The latest data from games and interactive media intelligence firm, SuperData, reveals the global audience for gaming video content will rise 21% within the next three years and already exceeds that of most major mainstream channels.

Driven largely by the significant rise in eSports, live gaming broadcasts and vlogs by influencers reviewing new releases, more and more gaming video is being viewed online. According to SuperData, the global audience for gaming video will reach 665 million in 2017 and rise 21% by 2021.

And, as with gaming itself, women make up nearly half (46%) of the global audience for video gaming. Interestingly, it seems that many have turned off the television and switched to watching gaming online. SuperData found that 20% of those those actively engaged in watching gaming video content were cord-cutters, compared with 8% off the general US population.

In fact, the 2016 audience figures for gaming video content on YouTube (517 million) and Twitch (185 million) exceeds the audiences for mainstream channels such as ESPN and HBO.

"Gaming Video Content represents a highly desirable market to advertisers due to the fact that its audience is young, tech-savvy and willing to spend money," says Carter Rogers, Research Manager at SuperData Research.

"Companies who do not advertise to GVC viewers risk missing potential customers as they turn to streams over legacy media. With a global audience that reaches more viewers than HBO, Netflix, ESPN and Hulu combined, brands could be losing out on the next primetime viewing activity, not unlike TV or sports viewing at their peaks."